VERATRUM  VIRIDE 


BY 


JOHN  URI  LLOYD, 

Cincinnati,  O. 


REPRINTED  FROM 


THE  WESTERN  DRUGGIST, 
Chicago,  October,  1897. 


C,  L$ 


L^IV 


VERATRUM  VIRIDE.* 


I 


BY  JOHN  URI  LLOYD. 

BOTANICAL  HISTORY  AND  DESCRIPTION. 

This  is  quite  a common  plant  in  many  parts  of  the 
United  States,  particularly  in  the  eastern  states.  It  grows 
in  swampy  situations,  wet  meadows,  and  along  the  borders 
of  streams.  It  is  usually  well  known  to  the  people  in 
sections  where  it  is  found,  who  call  it  itch-weed,  Indian 
poke,  poke-rootf,  or  American  hellebore,  swamp  helle- 
bore, etc.  The  earliest  travelers  made  mention  of  it. 
Josselyn1  records  that  it  is  used  as  an  ordeal  by  the  Amer- 
ican Indians,  somewhat  on  the  same  order  as  the  ordeals 
by  the  negroes  of  Africa  at  the  present  day.  He  sup- 
posed it  was  the  same  as  veratrum  album  of  Europe,  and 
notes  its  abundance,  stating  ‘ ‘ that  you  may  in  a small 
compass  gather  whole  cart-loads  of  it.” 

Peter  Kalm2  states  that  it  is  very  common  in  marshy 
places,  and  frequently  caused  the  death  of  stock  which 
ate  the  young  leaves  in  spring;  also  that  the  settlers  em- 
ployed a decoction  of  the  root  to  poison  the  seed-corn,  to 
prevent  the  birds  from  eating  it  § ; and  also  that  the  root 
was  used  as  an  insecticide. 

According  to  Loudon,  the  plant  was  introduced  into 
Europe  in  1742,  though  most  authorities  ascribe  to  Peter 
Collinson  its  introduction  in  1763. 4 It  was  named  and 
described  in  the  first  edition  of  Aiton’s  Hortus  Kewensis 
(vol.  3,  p.  422,  1789)  as  veratrum  viride,  and  Aiton 
by  most  writers,  is  given  as  the  author  of  the  name.  In 
justice,  however,  the  credit  should  be  given  to  William 
Solander,  an  English  botanist  and  illustrious  pupil  of 
Linnasus,  who  (although  no  mention  of  the  fact  is  made 
in  the  publication)  furnished  the  descriptions  and  nomen- 
clature of  the  new  species  described  in  Aiton’s  work.J; 

*The  thanks  of  the  writer  are  extended  to  Mr.  C.  G.  Lloyd  for  bo- 
tanical notes  and  to  Dr.  Sigmond  Waidbott,  librarian  of  the  Lloyd 
Library,  for  invaluable  assistance. 

+A  name  that  is  universally  used  with  phytolacca  decandra. 

§The  statement  being  that  the  marauding  birds  were  sickened  and 
did  not  return. 

^Dictionary  of  National  Biography.  “ Aiton,  Wm.”  New  York, 
188i>  to  date. 

p S3 


Veratrum  viride  appears  among  the  earliest  swamp 
plants  in  the  spring,  usually  associated  with  skunk-cab- 
bage (symplocarpus  foetidus,  Nutt.)  At  first  a bunch  of 
radical  leaves  appears,  then  it  sends  up  a stout  leafy 
stem  four  to  eight  feet  high.  The  leaves  below  are 
large,  six  to  twelve  inches  long,  one-half  as  wide.  They 
closely  cover  the  stem  with  their  sheathing  bases  and 
gradually  become  smaller  toward  the  top  of  the  plant, 
where  they  are  finally  reduced  to  bracts.  They  are 
broadly  oval  in  shape,  acute  at  the  end,  margins  entire, 
and  have  prominent  parallel  ribs.  The  flowers  appear 
in  June.  They  are  borne  in  a dense  terminal  pyramidal 
panicle  a foot  or  more  in  length.  When  in  bloom  the 
plant  with  its  large  bunch  of  terminal  yellowish-green 
flowers  is  a conspicuous  object.  Each  flower  has  six 
segments  to  the  perianth,  six  stamens  opposite  the  seg- 
ments, and  a three-styled  ovary  which  develops  in  fruit 
into  a three-celled,  three-lobed,  dry  capsule. 

Veratrum  viride  is  conceded  by  all  modern  botanists 
to  be  a distinct  species ; it  is  so  close,  however,  to  vera- 
trum album  of  Europe  that  the  early  explorers  of 
America  and  some  of  the  earlier  botanists  and  travelers 
— Michaux  (Flor.  bor.  am.  Vol.  II,  p.  249),  Josselyn,1 
Kalm9,  David  Schoepf3 — thought  it  was  the  same 
species.  Certainly  the  rhizomes  of  both  plants  bear  a 
close  resemblance  to  each  other,  even  in  their  microscop- 
ical aspects  28. 

Skunk-cabbage  root  has  been  used  as  an  adulterant  of 
veratrum  viride,  but  according  to  Bastin  it  may  easily  be 
recognized  microscopically  by  its  characteristic  starch 
grains,  while  the  smell  is  an  indication  of  its  presence  in 
the  fresh  condition  only.27 

Veratrum  viride,  as  it  occurs  in  commerce,  consists  of 
the  rhizome  with  the  numerous  rootlets  attached,  and 
frequently  is  sliced.  Sometimes  it  appears  in  trade 
coarsely  ground  and  pressed  into  ounce  or  pound  pack- 
ages. 

MEDICINAL  PROPERTIES  AND  CHEMICAL  CONSTITU- 
ENTS. 

The  medicinal  virtues  of  the  drug  seem  to  reside  in  the 
rhizome  alone ; at  least  Maisch11  has  found  that  the  dried 
leaf-stalks,  which  sometimes  occur  attached  to  the  rhizome, 


4 


are  inert,  though  containing  a saponaceous  principle.  The 
American  Indians  have  long  known  the  plant  to  be  an 
emetic,  and  Rafinesque7  reports  that  this  emetic  property 
is  so  strong  in  the  drug  that  cases  are  on  record  where 
external  application  to  the  legs  (in  cutaneous  diseases)  has 
caused  emesis.  The  acrid  properties  of  the  root  are  well 
knowm ; when  masticated  it  burns  the  mouth  and  fauces, 
and  when  snuffed  up  the  nostrils  in  the  form  of  powder, 
it  causes  violent  sneezing  and  a copious  discharge  of 
mucus.6  Another  conspicuous  property  of  the  drug  is 
its  sedative  action  on  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  it  hav- 
ing the  power  to  reduce  the  pulse  from  75  or  80  to  35  or 
40  beats  in  a minute. « 

Osgood  observed  the  stability  of  veratrum  preparations 
as  early  as  1835 ; an  aqueous  extract  inspissated  in  the 
sun  retained  its  activity  for  more  than  three  years.  * This 
statement  is  well  supplemented  by  some  recent  investiga- 
tions of  Pellacani  regarding  the  power  of  resistance  of  vari- 
ous alkaloids  in  putrefying  media;  it  was  observed  by  him 
that  veratrine  (which  is  at  least  closely  related  to  the  ac- 
tive principles  of  our  plant)  held  out  longest  of  all  alka- 
loids examined,  i.  e.,  for  39  months.23 

Dr.  Osgood,  in  1835,  probably  was  the  first  in  this 
country  to  institute  experiments,  though  unsuccessfully, 
with  a view  of  isolating  from  veratrum  viride  its  active 
principle.8  Mitchell,  in  1 837,  found  in  the  rhizome  gum, 
resin,  starch,  red  coloring  matter,  wax,  sugar,  a bitter 
principle  probably  analogous  to  veratrine,  and  gallic 
acid.9  Richardson,  in  1857,  obtained  an  alkaloid,  which 
from  parallel  tests  he  judged  to  be  veratrine,  the  alkaloid 
that  previously  had  been  obtained  from  veratrum  saba- 
dilla. 10  In  1865  Bullock12  isolated  a resin  and  two  alka- 
loids, neither,  however,  responding  to  the  tests  for  vera- 
trine. One  of  these  alkaloids  was  soluble  in  ether,  and 
later  was  named  by  Dr.  Geo.  B.  Wood,  veratroidia;  the 
other  was  insoluble  in  ether,  and  was  called  viridia  by 
the  same  authority.  The  latter  alkaloid  (viridia)  was  es- 
tablished by  Mitchell14  in  1874  to  be  identical  with  jervine, 
an  alkaloid  discovered  by  E.  Simon  in  1837  in  the  root 
of  veratrum  album,  and  at  first  named  by  him  barytine. 
Bullock16  observed  with  jervine  a perceptible  sedative  ef- 
fect; more  recently24  it  has  also  been  shown  to  be  faintly 


toxic.  Mitchell  observed  the  insolubility  of  jervine  sul- 
fate, a property  clearly  recognized  by  the  discoverer  of 
jervine  (Simon),  who  for  that  reason  had  first  assigned  to  it 
the  name  barytine.  The  nitrate  of  jervine  was  also 
found  by  Bullock  to  be  soluble  with  difficulty  in  water 
or  solution  of  potassium  nitrate,  a property  which  permits 
its  separation  from  other  alkaloids.15 

In  1876  Bullock  withdrew  veratroidia, 16  stating  that 
jervine  is  the  only  alkaloid  in  the  root  of  veratrum  viride, 
veratroidia  being  a mixture  of  jervia  with  a light-colored 
resin,  the  presence  of  which  increases  the  solubility  of 
jervine  in  ether. 

Th.  Wormley,  in  1876,  made  the  statement17  that  in 
both  V.  album  and  V.  viride  an  alkaloid  exists  which  un- 
mistakably responds  to  all  the  tests  for  veratrine.  Again, 
Robbins,  in  1877,  declared  the  nonexistence  of  veratrine 
and  the  existence  of  jervine  in  veratrum  viride,  to  which 
he  adds  a new  alkaloid,  which  he  calls  veratridine .20 

In  1878  Tobin  established  new  formulas  for  jervine  and 
veratroidine, 18  while  E.  Schmidt  assigned  to  veratrine 
the  formula  C32H50NO9  as  the  result  of  nine  analyses.19 
In  the  same  year,  C.  R.  Alder  Wright  and  A.  P.  Luff 
undertook  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  alkaloids  of  both 
veratrum  album  and  viride.21  They  obtained  per  kilo- 
gram of  drug  the  following  alkaloids  in  gram  weights : 


Veratrum  Album.  Veratrum  Viride. 


Jervine 

Pseudojervine . . . 

Rubijervine 

Veratralbine 

Veratrine 

Cevadine 


1.8  0.20 

0.4  0.16 

0 25  0.02 

2.20  trace 

0.05  (less  than)  0.004 

Apparently  absent  0. 43 


4.20  0.80 

Hence,  half  the  proportion  of  the  total  alkaloids  of 
veratrum  viride  would  consist  of  cevadine  (C32H49NO9) 
Wright  and  Luff’s  sternutatory  alkaloid  from  sabadilla 
seed,  the  remainder  being  about  an  even  mixture  of  jer- 
vine (C26H37NO3)  and  pseudojervine  (C29H43NO7). 

However,  other  and  later  investigators  have  not  ac- 
quiesced in  these  conclusions.  In  1890  G.  Salzberger24 
published  the  results  of  a prolonged  investigation  of 
veratrum  album,  discovering  in  this  plant  the  exceedingly 


poisonous,  sternutatory  and  unstable  alkaloid  proto - 
veratrine , and  the  nonpoisonous  bitter  alkaloid  protover - 
atridine.  Besides,  he  confirmed  Wright  and  Luff’s  formu- 
lae for  the  crystallizable  alkaloids,  jervine,  pseudojervine 
and  rubijervine.  In  the  same  year  Pehkschen25  also  con- 
tributed a paper  and  included  veratrum  viride  in  his 
researches.  From  the  latter  drug  he  obtained  0.08 
per  cent  of  total  crude  alkaloids,  which  he  found  to  con- 
sist principally  of  jervine,  C14H22NO2,  and  a small 
amount  of  veratroidine,  C22H63N09.  The  latter  alka- 
loid and  some  rhombic  crystals  that  he  obtained  from 
veratrum  album,  possessed  marked  sternutatory  proper- 
ties, while  jervine  did  not  exhibit  this  property.  Re- 
viewing these  results,  it  seems  evident  that  the  existence 
of  jervine  in  veratrum  viride  is  well  established.  How- 
ever, in  consequence  of  the  otherwise  somewhat  dis- 
cordant reports,  another  critical  study  of  veratrum 
viride  is  desirable  in  order  to  establish  its  exact  quali- 
tative and  quantitative  composition  beyond  a doubt. 
An  exceedingly  painstaking  compilation  and  classification 
of  the  results  hitherto  arrived  at  in  the  chemistry  of  vera- 
trum is  contained  in  Charles  Sohn,  “A  Dictionary  of 
Active  Principles  of  Plants,”  London,  1894. 

PHARMACOPEIA  L RECORD. 

While  veratrine,  a mixture  of  alkaloids  obtained  from 
the  seeds  of  cevadilla  (asagraea  officinalis,  Linn.)  has 
found  a place  practically  in  all  pharmacopeias,  veratrum 
viride  and  some  preparations  of  this  drug  occur  only  in 
the  British  and  the  United  States  pharmacopeias.  The 
latter  has  carried  this  drug  since  the  1820  edition. 

LITERATURE  ON  VERATRUM  VIRIDE. 

(1.)  Josselyn,  John,  (a)  New  England’s  Rarities  Discovered,  London, 
1672  (p.  48  of  Reprint),  p.  83;  (b)  Account  of  Two  Voyages  to 
New  England,  1674  (p.  60  of  Reprint),  p.  76.  Reprint,  with 
notes  by  E.  Tuckcrman,  Boston,  1855. 

(2.)  Peter  Kalm,  Travels  to  North  America,  original  work,  3 vols. 
Stockholm,  1753-1761.  Eng.  Trans,  by  J.  R.  Foster.  2d  ed„ 
Vol.  I,  p.  382,  London,  1772. 

(3.)  Dr.  Schoepf,  Materia  Medica  Americana,  p.  152,  Erlangae,  1787. 

(4.)  Wm.  Aiton,  Hortus  Kewensis,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  422,  London,  1789. 

(5.)  Jacob  Bigelow,  American  Medical  Botany,  Vol.  II,  p.  121-136, 
Boston,  1818. 

(6.)  James  Thacher,  The  Amer.  New  Dispensatory,  p.  404,  Boston, 
1821. 


(7).  Rafinesque,  Medical  Flora  and  Botany  of  the  U.  S.,  Vol.  II,  p. 
272,  Philadelphia,  1830. 

(8  ) Charles  Osgood,  Obs.  on  the  Med.  Properties  of  Veratrum  Vir 
A.  J.  Ph.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  202,  1835. 

(9.)  Thomas  R.  Mitchell,  A.  J.  Ph.,  1837,  p.  181. 

(10.)  Jos.  G.  Richardson,  A.  J.  Ph.,  1857,  p.  204. 

(11.)  John  M.  Maisch,  Practical  and  Scientific  Notes.  A.  J.  Ph.,  1864, 
p.  98. 

(12.)  Chas.  Bullock,  A.  J.  Ph.,  1865,  p.  321;  1866,  p.  97;  1868,  p.  64.  See 
also  Proc.  Am.  Pharm.  Asso.,  1867,  p.  360. 

(13.)  Dr,  Oulmont,  N.  Rep.  der  Pharm. . 1868,  p.  177.  See  also  A.  J. 
Ph.,  1868,  p.  443. 

(14.)  Chas.  Mitchell,  Jervia  in  Veratrum  Viride,  A.  J.  Ph.,’1874,  p.  100, 
and  Proc.  A.  Ph.  A.,  1874,  p.  397-426. 

(15.)  Bullock,  Jervia— Its  History,  etc.,  A.  J.  Ph.,  1875,  p.  450. 

(16.)  Bullock,  A.  J.  Ph.,  1876,  p.  147. 

(17.)  Th.  G.  Wormley,  Proc.  Am.  Ph.  Asso.,  No.  24,  p.  356,  1876. 

(18.)  A.  Tobien,  On  the  Veratrum  Alkaloids,  Diss.  Dorpat,  1877,  A.  J 
Ph.,  1878,  p.  122. 

(19.)  E.  Schmidt,  Veratria,  A.  J.  Ph.,  1878,  p.  456. 

(20.)  C.  A.  Robbins,  A.  J.  Ph.,  1877,  p.  517. 

(21.)  Wright  & Luff,  The  Alkaloids  of  the  Veratrums,  Jour.  Chem. 
Soc.  1878,  p.  338-359  and  18V 9,  p.  405-426.  Also  see  A.  J.  Ph., 
1878,  p.  489,  and  1879,  p.  367. 

(22.)  Bentley  & Trimen,  No.  286,  London,  1880. 

(23.)  Pellacani,  Detection  of  Alkaloids  after  Death,  A.  J.  Ph  , 1888,  p. 
569. 

(24.)  G.  Salzberger,  Arch.  d’Pharm.,  1890,  Vol.  CCXXVIII,  p.  462- 
483.  Also  see  A.  J.  Ph.,  1890,  p.  492,  and  1891,  p.  292. 

(25  ) S.  C.  Pehkschen,  On  the  Veratrum  Alkaloids,  Pharm.  Zsch".  f 
Russl.,  1890.  See  also  A.  J.  Ph.,  1891,  p.  196. 

(26.)  Fltickiger,  Pharmacogn.  d.  Pflanzenreichs,  3d  ed.,  Berlin,  1891, 
p.  334. 

(27.)  E.  S.  Bastin,  The  Starches  in  Subterranean  Stem-drugs.  The 
Apothecary,  Vol.  II,  p.  151,  1893. 

(28.)  E.  S.  Bastin,  Structure  of  Veratrum  Viride,  A.  J.  Ph.,  1895,  p.  196 


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